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Second only to Kind of Blue by Miles and Jazz Samba by Stan Getz, as the most commercially successful jazz record of all time (it even contained a single for the pop charts, Paul Desmond's magnificent Take Five'), Brubeck brilliantly popularised jazz and offered it as a palatable alternative to Bobby Vee
Universally regarded as one of the greatest collaborations between the two most influential musicians in modern jazz (Miles Davis notwithstanding), the Jazzland sessions from Thelonious Monk and John Coltrane should be recognized on other levels. While the mastery of the principals is beyond reproach, credit should also be given to peerless bassist Wilbur Ware, as mighty an anchor as anyone could want. These 1957 dates also sport a variety in drummerless trio, quartet, septet, or solo piano settings, all emphasizing the compelling and quirky compositions of Monk.
"This important album, Monk's first after a long absence from the recording studio, is a stunning reaffirmation of his power as a performer and composer. It is a brilliant and absorbing program of five Monk originals and three standards (and they might just as well be originals, so startling is their transformation at his hands). This is a beautiful album in every respect." - Pete Welding, DownBeat Magazine
Recorded in 1975 at the Köln Opera House and released the same year, nothing on this program was considered before he sat down to play. All of the gestures, intricate droning harmonies, skittering and shimmering melodic lines, and whoops and sighs from the man are spontaneous. Although it was one continuous concert, the piece is divided into four sections, largely because it had to be divided for double LP. But from the moment Jarrett blushes his opening chords and begins meditating on harmonic invention, melodic figure construction, glissando combinations, and occasional ostinato phrasing, music changed. For some listeners it changed forever in that moment. For others it was a momentary flush of excitement, but it was change, something so sorely needed and begged for by the record-buying public. Jarrett's intimate meditation on the inner workings of not only his pianism, but also the instrument itself and the nature of sound and how it stacks up against silence, involved listeners in its search for beauty, truth, and meaning. The concert swings with liberation from cynicism or the need to prove anything to anyone ever again. With this album, Jarrett put himself in his own league, and you can feel the inspiration coming off him in waves. This may have been the album every stoner wanted in his collection "because the chicks dug it." Yet it speaks volumes about a musician and a music that opened up the world of jazz to so many who had been excluded, and offered the possibility -- if only briefly -- of a cultural, aesthetic optimism, no matter how brief that interval actually was. This is a true and lasting masterpiece of melodic, spontaneous composition and improvisation that set the standard.
As Late Night Tales moves into a new decade, the long awaited chapter from The Cinematic Orchestra greets us with style. Following editions from behemoths of rock Arctic Monkeys and Snow Patrol, The Cinematic Orchestra’s selection sees a return to a more typical Late Night compiler. Their association with the series reaches back to the inclusion of ‘Channel 1 Suite’ from their debut album ‘Motion’ on Zero7’s memorable 2002 compilation. With track selection and order seeing many revisions since the inception of the project, we arrive with one of the most defined Late Night Tales yet to come in the series 10 year history.
